Advertising on the internet and on television or through other media provides a means for generating revenues for the networks and sales and brand exposure for companies providing a product and/or service. Television networks garner revenue from companies that advertise during their commercial breaks. On the internet revenue is raised by the networks and others that stream video in a variety of ways. Advertising pop-up banners and commercial breaks embedded in programs have been used extensively so as to provide brand exposure as consumers surf the internet and view and/or listen to streamed media. However, pop-ups are often ignored or quickly dismissed by the users because they interfere with the user's experience.
Additionally, the use of Digital Video Recorders is growing in households across the US and every year more and more people are recording their favorite television shows and watching them at a time for them which is convenient. This phenomenon has been labeled “Timeshifting” by the industry and the Nielson Reports have even adjusted their ratings to reflect timeshifting. This causes a problem for advertisers because their commercials are being skipped over as users fast forward through them. Another problem for advertisers is that other than through surveys, there is no way to measure how many people are actually watching their ads during live television or “timeshifted” viewing.
It has become popular for major networks such as ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News, etc. to broadcast its programs via the internet either live or through video on-demand which provides the ability to playback recorded shows at the consumer's convenience. The loading, playing, fast forwarding, rewinding, etc. are typically controlled by pushing buttons on the tool bar. The tool bars typically appear on the lower portion of a video player or computer screen if a consumer is watching streaming video on-line. Included within the tool bar is a progress bar that indicates a user's current location in the playback. It also indicates with various symbols what mode a user is currently in. i.e. fast forward, rewind, play, pause. On any output device, the tool bar is used to control streaming media that may be delivered in various formats.
Digital Video Recorders implement a progress bar during the fast forward, rewind, pause and play modes. This progress bar uses arrows to display the current mode being used and an indicator to display the current location within the recorded show. Each manufacturer has its own progress bar format, but currently the purpose of the progress bar design is strictly targeting playback mode functions.
It would be desirable to provide an improved progress bar that is an advertisement for use with streaming media. This progress bar that is an advertisement will provide a method of generating revenue for the networks and give the advertiser the ability to know with 100% certainty that the user is viewing their ad because they are engaged with the progress bar while it is in use. This level of certainty can be obtained because an action by the user is required to initiate the viewing of the progress bar, therefore they are actively engaged. It would also be desirable to provide a method for a consumer to interact with the progress bar that is an advertisement that allows them to gain more information about a product.
According to one aspect of the invention, a progress bar for use with a streaming media device, includes advertising indicia that has the appearance of a source of a product, service or company logo. The advertising indicia forms part or all of the progress bar. A progress indicator in the form of an advertisement is operable to inform a consumer the status of play for media content. According to another aspect of the present invention, an advertising system is provided for increasing brand exposure. The system includes a display, a progress bar depicted on the display, a progress bar that is a company logo or advertisement, and a media source providing an input signal to the display.